


Under my Skin

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Eight H/C Bingo Card [28]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Pseudoscience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 03:06:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12448377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Once he gets over the shock of waking up to blinding pain, Jack can't say he's surprised the team hasn't come up with a solution yet. He draws a slow breath and forces his eyes open, turning his head to the side to see Daniel deeply engrossed in whatever he's reading. Jack tries to focus on that, on Daniel, instead of on the pressure-pain in his back and along the backs of his arms and legs, and for a while he thinks it might be working. Then he draws a too-deep breath and the pressure in his lungs leaves him gasping and pushing himself out of bed and to his feet.When an alien antidote has a negative reaction with Jack's differing physiology, there's more to the solution than anyone could have expected.





	Under my Skin

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea what this is. it feels cobbled together and awkward, but it's the best i've got rn, so here you go.

When Jack returns to consciousness, his first thought is that he's on fire. His skin is burning and everything _hurts_ in a way that leaves him gasping for air.

The second thing that comes to mind in quick succession, however, is the fact that he can't smell anything burning. It could be that his sense of smell is just overloaded, but his lungs feel fine, which means he probably isn't inhaling smoke, so he's probably not burning.

His third thought is a completely irrational one—that he should strip down to nothing for no reason other than a base instinct he doesn't understand.

Jack gathers what little piece of his mind he has command of and looks up to try to take stock of the situation. Teal'c has the doctor pinned to the wall while Carter spits out rapid-fire questions that the doctor answers through the terror on her face. Daniel's kneeling beside him, hands hovering as though not quite sure whether or not he's allowed to touch Jack. Jack blinks a few times, his skin still sending impossible signals to his brain—heat and pressure and _pain_ ; that can't be right—and it takes Jack all of a second to decide to give into instinct and strip.

He yanks his P90 off and strips out of his vest, the pain and pressure diminishing slightly at both. He's managed to get his shirt halfway over his head before there's a sudden pressure on his arm that leaves him screaming. He might black out for an instant, overcome as he is by pain, but when he opens his eyes to see Daniel with his hands held up in surrender and his eyes wide with fear, Jack's mind makes the connection.

Swearing, Jack drags his colonel persona on over his pain and starts giving orders. "Carter, get a sample of whatever she dosed me with. Daniel, get your ass to the gate and dial us home. Teal'c, grab my gear and follow us out." Then he yanks his shirt the rest of the way off, breathing shakily before making quick work of his boots and socks. The pain is still there, sharp and bright, but Jack's been through worse, and right now he needs to get back to Fraiser so she can sort him out.

He just hopes she can.

The gate is a shining beacon as Jack rounds the corner toward it, the soles of his feet aching and burning in a way that leaves him struggling to keep moving forward. But he forces himself to take every necessary step, and though the pressure of gate travel leaves him gasping and stumbling as he makes his way out the other side, he makes it through, and that's what matters. The ramp's grate digs painfully into the soles of his feet and he makes his way down as quickly as he can, blinking back the pain once he settles his feet on the cool concrete of the base floor.

"We need to get him to the infirmary," and Jack only hopes Teal'c thought to stay behind to make sure Carter can bring back a sample of whatever he'd been dosed with, because that's Daniel's voice at his shoulder. He feels that same pressure again, intense and overwhelming, this time at the small of his back, and he forces himself to pull away, seeking Fraiser out in the crowd. He forces himself toward her, pain dulling his mind, but not enough to not know what's happening to him.

"The doc there took me by surprise, dosed me with something she said was a vaccine that seems to have affected my pain response. It's responding to everything, and with extreme prejudice—pressure, touch, even my clothes."

Fraiser's eyes go wide, and she nods, stepping out of his way so he can forge a path to the infirmary. He stops short in front of the elevator, letting her press the button, which seems to heighten her concern. "Everything?" she asks, fingers hovering over his arm.

Jack nods. "Everything."

Fraiser swears, drawing her hand back. "You know I'm going to have to do a full evaluation, but I'll try to keep the contact to a minimum."

Jack nods again, wincing when he purses his lips out of habit and his whole face lights up with pain in response. Fraiser looks increasingly worried, but avoids touching him despite the way he knows it's in her very nature to touch and to heal whenever she can.

He's quietly grateful when they board the elevator and he turns to see that Daniel isn't behind him. The last thing he wants is to let Daniel see him like this any longer than was absolutely necessary. He can feel the way his sensitivity to the pain isn't wavering or diminishing in the slightest, the way every trick in the book still isn't enough to keep him from nearly keeling over with the force of the pain. He's not happy to let even Fraiser see him like this, but if it were Daniel….

Jack inhales sharply as they make their way out of the elevator and down the hall to the infirmary. It's taking every ounce of willpower to stay upright, and he's not sure how much he has left in reserve. Fraiser puts him through the gauntlet but does her best to do so with minimal invasiveness. The MRI would almost be the worst part for the way he has to stay still and try to ignore the way the pressure of the table at his back leaves him gasping for breath by the time they get him out and on his feet again. Would almost be, except for what comes next, because by the time he's done with the MRI Carter's apparently dropped off a sample of the chemical with Fraiser, and when Fraiser comes into the MRI room, her grim expression tells Jack exactly what's coming next.

Jack feels the blood drain from his face. "Blood sample?" he asks, fighting the quiet thread of desperation in his tone.

Fraiser nods. "I'm afraid so, sir."

Jack closes his eyes. "You're gonna have to sedate me, Doc."

"For a blood sample?"

Jack ignores the surprise in the nurse's voice and turns to Fraiser instead. "Look, if the amount of pressure gravity generates on my body is this bad, I don't even want to think about how bad the pressure from the tourniquet would be."

Fraiser's eyes go wide in understanding, and she nods. "Alright, then."

Jack isn't particularly looking forward to waking up from this particular bout of sedation, but he lets himself hold out hope, however small and brief, that maybe he'll wake up whole and hearty again.

——

Once he gets over the shock of waking up to blinding pain, Jack can't say he's surprised the team hasn't come up with a solution yet. He draws a slow breath and forces his eyes open, turning his head to the side to see Daniel deeply engrossed in whatever he's reading. Jack tries to focus on that, on Daniel, instead of on the pressure-pain in his back and along the backs of his arms and legs, and for a while he thinks it might be working. Then he draws a too-deep breath and the pressure in his lungs leaves him gasping and pushing himself out of bed and to his feet. Daniel startles, looking up at Jack with surprise in his eyes.

"Jack," he says, relief in his voice as he gets to his feet and reaches out toward Jack. Jack feels himself flinch back at the slight motion, and Daniel freezes immediately. "Sorry," he whispers, "sorry."

Jack forces a smile. "Hearing's not an issue, Daniel. Just touch."

Daniel nods, fingers tapping an uncomfortable rhythm on his book. "Right, of course. Of course." His eyes dart from Jack's face to the bed to his book and back again, like his eyes can't seem to settle on the best place to look. Jack can't help the affectionate smile that slips onto his face or the way his hand makes it halfway to Daniel's head to ruffle his hair before he remembers and stops himself.

Jack huffs out a breath, looking away and fighting the instinct to cross his arms. "This sucks."

Daniel's laugh sounds punched out of him, more exhaustion and relief than any real sort of amusement. "I bet." Jack turns to Daniel, raising an incredulous eyebrow. Daniel's answering smile it awkward at best. "I mean, come on, Jack. You've always been the touchy-feely one, we both know that."

Jack lets his eyebrow kick up a few more notches, but Daniel's grin just widens at the sight, like irritating Jack is actually calming him down somehow. Huh.

"You know it as well as I do, Jack. It's your thing."

"My _thing_?"

"Yeah, your thing. Whenever one of us is hurt or upset, you always make sure to smother us with your own brand of physical affection."

Jack opens his mouth to protest, only to stop himself short. Daniel may have a point, and, really, there's no point in arguing with him. Not when he's caught himself reaching out to touch Daniel or forcing himself away from Fraiser's pointed lack of physical support in the last few hours. Even without that, the weird tingling need to _touch_ at the tips of his fingers would be a dead giveaway. Jack's fingers twitch and he only just manages to stop himself from rubbing a hand over his face in exasperation. "Right. Sure thing. Whatever you say, Daniel."

Daniel stays conspicuously quiet, and when Jack glances over his shoulder at him, he looks apologetic. Jack waves off the apparent concern, and goes to sit down on the bed, wincing at the way the pressure feels just as intense as he remembers, but welcoming the relief in the soles of his feet.

Daniel hovers for a moment longer before easing into his own chair, his eyes still flicking toward Jack and then away again, as though still uncertain where he's supposed to be looking. Jack takes pity on him. "What are you working on?"

"What?" Daniel startles at the question, looking taken aback.

Jack gestures at the book in his hands. "What are you working on?"

"Oh! It's, um. It's some research for SG-12. That planet with the Mayan descendents that worshipped Tohil until he abandoned the planet about a hundred years ago. They asked me to look into…"

Jack lets Daniel's words wash over him, a familiar balm to the pain and strain of their off-world activities. The aching pressure generated from just sitting on the bed is still present in the back of his mind, but it's easier to ignore when he focuses on the easy rise and fall of Daniel's voice. He isn't sure when his eyes fall shut, only that when he slumps forward Daniel's there to catch him and force him upright again. The pain of even that brief moment of contact shocks Jack awake, and Daniel pulls his hands back as soon as Jack gets himself upright again. Jack blinks hard, trying to get himself recentered, and once he does, it's to see both Daniel and Dr. Fraiser hovering over him with worry in their features.

"Colonel?" Fraiser asks, and Jack huffs out a sigh at the concern in her tone. "Is everything alright?" Jack looks up at her and raises an eyebrow in challenge. She rolls her eyes. "Is anything worse than when I did your exam three hours ago?"

"Nope. Still in excruciating pain anytime I touch anything at all, Doc."

Fraiser nods. "I assume the painkillers haven't made any difference, then?"

Jack takes stock of his body, trying to compare the intensity and extent of the pain to what he'd felt earlier. He shakes his head. "Whatever you gave me, it isn't making much of a difference."

Fraiser's lips thin. "I was afraid of that." When Jack raises an eyebrow, she goes on. "You were right; whatever they dosed you with on that planet seems to have impacted your pain response. There were a few other proteins and trace elements that we're looking into, but overall the main impact is on your pain response. My staff and I are looking into it, but in the meantime I'm not sure we're going to be able to do much for you, Colonel."

Jack sighs, his hand twitching with the need to do something, reach out and touch something _anything_ to get over the feeling that he's suddenly too big for his skin. "Great. Just great."

——

Daniel can't be convinced to leave Jack's side. Other than sedatives, the only thing that seems to be enough to distract Jack from the pain is his rambling, and Daniel flat out refuses to deprive Jack of what little reprieve he could offer, especially because Jack himself hates the way the sedatives leave him feeling groggy and disoriented, and is refusing to be sedated any longer than necessary. So Daniel sits at his side, reading from his texts or muttering half-finished translations throughout the day as he works, maintaining his vigil at Jack's side until Fraiser kicks him out for the night. Even then, from the way he keeps wandering in wearing the same increasingly disheveled uniform, Jack's pretty sure he isn't making it further than the barracks, collapsing in one of the beds until morning so he can do it all over again.

Jack doesn't have the guts to tell him to go home, some tiny part of him fearing that he might not come back the next day. It's a completely irrational fear with no basis in anything, but that doesn't make it any less of an ache in Jack's chest, albeit one that isn't nearly as overwhelming as the pain. Jack's long since lost track of how long he's been in the infirmary, long since moved past bored and listless to bored and antsy, long since come to rely on Daniel's presence as his only measure of time. Fraiser's been working almost around the clock to try to come up with some sort of antidote, and Jack doesn't have the heart to tell her he doesn't think there is one.

In the end, it's Carter who suggests they go back to the planet and see what they can get out of the scientist. Jack almost offers to come along, but the thought of that long on his feet—and, more importantly, that long in uniform—is enough to have him waving them off and wishing them good luck. Daniel almost looks like he wants to argue, but the thought of sending Carter and Teal'c without him there, combined with the relative assurance of safety for Jack in the infirmary seems to be enough to get him to turn on his heel and head out with them.

For the first time, Jack actually contemplates asking to be sedated.

He doesn't, but it's the thought that counts.

The hours stretch longer and longer, and just as Jack feels himself start to go a little stir-crazy, Carter and Teal'c come marching in, sans Daniel. That's the first cue that something's off.

The first in Carter's eyes is the second. "Did you know?"

Jack blinks, taking stock of the emotion in Carter's eyes, the tension in Teal'c's frame. "Know what?"

"Did you know that Daniel was the cure?"

Jack feels his eyes go wide with shock. "What?"

Carter scoffs, looking disbelieving. "Don't play dumb, sir, it doesn't suit you. Did you know?"

"What does that even mean, 'Daniel was the cure'?"

Carter makes an angry sound in the back of her throat before turning and storming off toward Fraiser's office.

For his part, Teal'c just stays where he is, face stoic but body tense. Jack almost doesn't want to ask, but Teal'c's face makes it clear he won't say anything if he doesn't. So Jack swallows his fear and asks.

"Where's Daniel?"

——

Jack's almost willing to power through the pain of Teal'c holding him back to chase after Carter, but the thought of having to recover before being allowed to go after Daniel keeps him firmly in bed, only the threat of an increase in the constant hum of pain enough to keep him from pacing. When Fraiser and Carter finally finish conferring, Jack knows what they're going to say even before they ask.

"Yes," he says.

Carter blinks. "But I didn't even—"

"If it's for Daniel, I'll do it. When do we leave?"

Carter blinks again. "I'll… go ask General Hammond."

As she turns on her heel to leave, Jack turns to Fraiser, taking note of the concern on her face. "I'll be fine, doc."

Fraiser shakes her head. "I'm certain you believe that, Colonel, but I'm not certain you know what it entails. Major Carter made it clear that the alien doctor was most agreeable and that Dr. Jackson agreed to the procedure against her orders. I honestly don't know what you're going to find over there, and I hate to think what might happen if you forget yourself. You know how bad the pain gets when you're not careful, sir, and we both know you're a far sight from careful when it comes to Dr. Jackson."

Jack nods, accepting the point. "Be that as it may, I'm not leaving him there."

Fraiser sighs. "Then you might as well go suit up, sir. I can't imagine the general won't approve the mission.

Jack's on his feet and out of the infirmary before she can change her mind.

——

Daniel's waiting for them on the other side of the gate, shifting idly from foot to foot sheepishly. "Hey guys…" he says, glancing up at them briefly before averting his gaze again.

Jack clenches his fists to keep from grabbing Daniel and dragging him back through the gate. Daniel's eyes flick up to meet his, and that's the second Jack knows something's wrong. The lack of bangs sticking out from under the bandana had been a warning sign, but the slight shift of Daniel's head had been enough to make it clear that the line of red and black over Daniel's ear wasn't just a trick of the light.

Jack's in front of Daniel peeling back the bandana before anyone can stop him. The pain in his fingertips is nothing to the ache in his chest, and the sight of a line of stitches knitting together a surgical laceration above Daniel's ear is enough to have Jack marching past Daniel toward where the doctor is doubtlessly waiting.

Only Daniel's hand wrapping tight around his tac vest slows him to a stop. "Jack," he says softly. "It's okay."

Jack rounds on him, grabbing him by the arms and all but lifting him off his feet. "The hell it is! What right does that bastard have to cut you open?"

"It doesn't matter, Jack, just… please. Trust me."

All the fight goes out of Jack at once, and he releases his hold on Daniel's arms, the sharp pressure in his palms no longer worth it. "Just… just tell me why."

Daniel blinks hard before smiling up at Jack. "Trust me?"

Jack glares at him. "Daniel—"

Then Daniel's hands are at the back of his head, fingertips skimming down along the back of his neck and cradling his head carefully. Jack freezes, bracing himself for the pain that never comes. In fact…. Jack blinks hard, his nerve endings sending him a thousand contradictory signals and his whole body tingling with the sudden relief of a lack of pain after days of nothing but pain signals.

Jack staggers slightly at the incongruous signals, slumping against Daniel. Daniel takes his weight easily, one hand bracing Jack at the hip while the other stays firmly in place on the skin of Jack's neck. "Daniel," Jack gasps out again, "what—?"

"Just hang on, Jack. Give me a minute to get the rest of the toxin neutralized."

"Toxin?" Jack asks, feeling his breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps. "What are you even… _fuck_ , Daniel, what are you _doing_?"

"Trust me, Jack. Just trust me."

So Jack does.

And when unconsciousness sweeps up over his vision, dark and swarming at the edges, he lets himself sink into Daniel's arms the way he never would otherwise. If Daniel really was the cure, then who is Jack to argue?

——

Coming to in the infirmary without the red hot pins and needles everywhere his back and legs rest against the bed is a strange sensation. Turning his head to see Daniel keeping vigil at his side, arms crossed and head bowed with sleep isn't.

Jack watches him for a long time, taking stock of the minute changes. His hair's been buzzed away to nothing, and the incision Jack had seen above his ear seems to extend around past the back of his head. Aside from that, there seem to be no other visible changes.

That doesn't mean there aren't any invisible ones.

Jack hears the telltale click of Fraiser's shoes on the floor and turns to face her. "Hey, doc," he says quietly.

She smiles at him. "How's the pain?"

Jack takes stock of his body, the lack of pain altogether strange after so long with it. "Gone, I think."

Fraiser nods. "Dr. Jackson implied as much." She flips through her notes, lips pursing. "Said the doctor on P85-142 told him the toxin in your blood that was affecting your pain response resulted from an interaction between the vaccine she'd tried to give you and your differing physiology from a few thousand years of divergent evolution." She looks up at him. "It seems plausible, but without someone else to test it out on, I can't say for sure that that was the cause."

Jack nods. "No need for that, doc. The antidote?"

Fraiser turns back to her notes. "Dr. Jackson was a little bit less direct in his answers on that front, but it seems that the doctor administered a counter reactive agent to Dr. Jackson to address the issue. He claims the doctor told him she believes the changes to your neurological activity and the fact that they did not subside were a result of a biochemical shift in—"

"English, doc."

Fraiser gives a tight smile. "This is a temporary reprieve. Unless she has access to you and your blood samples, it sounds like Daniel is the closest thing to a cure we have."

Jack lies back, turning to face Daniel. "Do you agree?"

"I have no idea, sir. All I know is that, for now, this seems to be working. I just don't know how long it will work."

Jack closes his eyes. It's not that there's anything wrong with being stuck with Daniel. He honestly can't think of a single problem on his end. It's on Daniel's end that there are likely to be issues. He sighs. "Thanks for the update, doc."

"Of course, sir. Let me know if you need anything else."

As Fraiser moves along to check on her other patients, Jack lets his eyes drift open again and settle on Daniel's frame. They're going to have to talk about this, sooner or later. And, for once, he's actually hoping it's sooner.

——

The next twenty-four hours are an exercise in restraint. Sometime between his briefing with Friaser and his next bout of consciousness, Daniel had wandered off for the first time since this whole thing had started. Jack scours the base, but somehow Daniel seems to be managing to dodge him at every turn. Only once does Jack manage to catch up with him, catching him by the elbow. Daniel had frozen, seeming startled, before turning to Jack, one of his fake smiles plastered over his face. "Hey, Jack."

Jack had reached up, turning Daniel's head and tugging his hat aside to inspect the still-sutured incision. He hears Daniel's breath catch, feels him shift slightly, but writes it off as a reaction to the incision being exposed to the air. Jack huffs, replacing the hat and releasing Daniel before taking a step back. "You get Fraiser to look at that?"

Daniel's not looking at him, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. Jack sees his throat work, and when he speaks he sounds a little breathless. "Yeah, she uh… she looked at it while you were resting."

"Uh huh."

Daniel still looks awkward and uncomfortable, so Jack swallows the question he really wants to ask and instead invites Daniel over for drinks that night. Better to ask him off-base anyway.

So Jack waits a full day to press the subject, even taking precautions he normally wouldn't to ask Daniel when they're off-base. From his perspective, this shows way more restraint than usual.

If the look on Daniel's face when he finally does ask is any indication, the restraint doesn't hold a candle to the idiocy of even asking.

"What the hell were you thinking, letting an alien that had fucked me over operate on you?"

Daniel shrugs. "She seemed honest enough. Besides, if it was going to help you, I could hardly say no, now, could I?"

Jack huffs out an angry sound. "What if she'd hurt you the way she hurt me?"

"Then we'd be no worse off."

Jack has Daniel by the arms in the space of a breath. "Don't. Ever. Say that. Again."

There's a moment where Daniel stares up at him, wide-eyed, startled, and more than a little vulnerable, almost like he's expecting something else to happen. When nothing does, he swallows and looks away.

Jack relents, releasing Daniel and rubbing a hand over his face. "Alright. So, do we need to go back and see if she can do anything about whatever's wrong with me?" Daniel seems to shrink in on himself at the question. Jack frowns at the shift; Daniel hasn't responded this way in a long time. "Daniel?" he asks.

"We can, I guess," Daniel says quietly.

"But you don't want to," Jack guesses.

Daniel seems to shrink even more.

"Look, Daniel," Jack says, fighting the urge to manhandle Daniel into looking at him, "I just. Fraiser said this might be temporary. That you might need to do what you did on the planet again to keep me functional." Daniel shifts his weight again, and Jack almost stops, but instinct has him barreling ahead regardless. "If there's a way to make it permanent, I don't want us to ignore it. I don't… I don't want you to feel like you're stuck with me."

Daniel straightens at that, eyes bright and fierce, suddenly nothing like the uncertain figure he'd been moments before. "It's not like that and you know it, Jack."

Jack blinks, taken aback. "What?"

"Jack, I've never felt stuck with you. _Never_. This, what I did… it was my choice, and I'd make it again in a heartbeat, even with the side effects."

Jack frowns at that. "Side effects?" Daniel winces, glancing away. Jack takes a step closer, glaring down at Daniel. "Daniel. What side effects?"

Daniel shakes his head. "It's nothing to worry about, I swear. I'm fine."

When Daniel turns to leave, Jack reaches out, unthinking, to grab him by the wrist. Daniel freezes, his whole body going rigid. Immediately, Jack lets go. "Shit, Daniel, is it—"

"It doesn't hurt," Daniel hurries to reassure him, fingers brushing over the space where Jack had reached for him. "It doesn't hurt."

Jack frowns. "Then what—"

Then Jack catches sight of the look on Daniel's face, one that wipes away into a look of sheer terror the second Daniel realizes Jack's looking. Jack files that away, compartmentalizing the idea that that's Daniel's reaction to being caught out while he deals with his initial reaction. Because that look. Jack knows that look. He just doesn't think he's ever seen it in this context on Daniel's face.

"Fuck," Jack whispers.

Daniel squeezes his eyes shut, his jaw clenching briefly before he turns back to Jack, something firm in his gaze. "Look, don't worry about it, Jack. I'll stick around and I'll help you and it doesn't have to mean anything, I swear."

Jack stares back at him, his mind going a mile a minute trying to process. There's a hundred thousand things wrong with this, and yet he can't shake the quiet comfort that comes from knowing that _this_ is how Daniel responds to him now. He swallows. "Did you know this was going to happen?" he asks softly. "Did she tell you going in?" Daniel nods, something making him keep his gaze meeting Jack's. "And you did it anyway?"

Daniel's face turns idly self-deprecating. "I didn't think it would be that much worse than how things already were, frankly."

Jack's breath catches in his chest. It's more of an admission than he thought he'd get. Carefully, remembering what Fraiser had told him about direct skin contact being essential to the transference of the antidote and hoping the same thing applies here, he wraps his hand over Daniel's elbow, his shirt preventing direct skin contact. "And is it?" he asks.

Daniel blinks up at him. "Is it what?"

"Worse?"

Daniel swallows, seeming unable to tear his gaze away from Jack. "I… I didn't notice the first time. Too focused on making sure you weren't in pain."

Jack nods, sliding his hand pointedly up Daniel's arm toward his cuff. "And after the first time?"

Daniel's breath seems to catch in his throat, his eyes going wide with surprise. "I…." Then he seems to catch on, and his smile turns flirtatious. "I can't say I know for sure, yet. Not enough data."

"Hmm," Jack says, releasing Daniel's arm and pretending to ignore the way he seems to sway into Jack's space. "Then perhaps we should run a few tests, eh?"

Before Daniel can reply, Jack's put his hand to the back of Daniel's throat, pulling him in close. He can almost feel Daniel's whimper through the point where they're touching, and he can't shake the smile that slides over his lips as he tilts his head suggestively.

"Well?" he asks softly. "What do you think? Any change?"

"Jack," Daniel whimpers, his whole body swaying toward him. "I swear, if you're just fucking with me—"

Immediately Jack removes his hand and takes a step back. Daniel goes on swaying toward Jack, his face making him look drugged and distracted. "Daniel," he says sharply, and Daniel's eyes sharpen in response. "Is that really what you think of me?"

Daniel blinks a few times, clearly gathering his thoughts. "No. Sometimes when I'm overthinking things… but no. That's not you. That's not the man I—"

Jack leans in, pressing a kiss to Daniel's lips before he can finish that sentence. Daniel gives a full body shudder and reaches up to cling to Jack's shoulders, his whole body going lax. Jack takes it for the invitation it is, sliding his leg between Daniel's just to feel Daniel harden against him. Jack draws back, pressing kisses along Daniel's jawline as he tries to find his own words. "Good," he finally whispers against Daniel's ear. "Because for as much as you drive me crazy, I'd never fuck with you. Not about this. I swear."

Daniel shudders again, sliding his hands down from Jack's shoulders to rest on his hips. "Promise?"

Jack pulls back to look Daniel in the eye, his gaze sharp and bright. "Yes, Daniel. I promise."

Daniel's face relaxes into a smile that's more pure affection than the lust Jack can feel between his thighs. "Good. Because I'd say it's time you took responsibility for what you're doing to me."

Jack smiles, knowing there's no malice in the words. "Gladly."

——

If the first thing Jack does on waking up beside Daniel the next morning is run a fingertip along the line of his exposed collarbone just to hear the way his breath catches, well, no one needs to know but the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Tina](http://idoltina.tumblr.com/) for the quick beta. All remaining mistakes are my own. Part of my Round Eight H/C Bingo Card. [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


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